Monitoring the Northern San Francisco Bay Water Quality with Landsat-8. Nicholas B. Tufillaroa , and Curtiss O. Davisa. aOregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA, nbt@coas.oregonstate.edu

Landsat-8’s high spatial resolution (~30 nm nominal), improved signal-to-noise (12bit digitizer)

and expanded band set open up new applications for coastal and in-land waters.

We use a recent ocean color processor for Landsat-8 created by Vanhellemont and Ruddick (RSE, 2015)

to examine changes in the Northern San Francisco Bay, in particular looking for possible

changes due to the on-going California drought. For instance, a temporary drought barrier to prevent 

salt water intrusion was placed during May of 2015 at West False River in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Using the new Landsat-8 ocean color products,

we illustrate how to monitor changes in macro algae and plants (Sago pondweed (native), Curly pondweed (non-native)) in regions directly effected,

such as the Franks Track region. Product maps using panchromatic enhancement (~15 m resolution) and

scene based atmospheric correction allow a detailed synoptic look every 16 days during the

Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2015. This work is part of a larger NASA funded project aimed at

improving the modeling and predictive capabilities of the biogeochemical state for the San Francisco Bay

(Davis, PI: Impacts of Population Growth on the San Francisco Bay and Delta Ecosystem, 2014-2017).